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Controversy erupted on the convention floor when a dispute broke out over whether to seat the delegates of presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. Part of Maine’s delegation stormed off the floor in protest of a decision to strip away half of Paul’s delegates. Supportive members of other delegations rose to their feet and hollered their objections, angered by new rules that they say they will make it harder for grassroots candidates to stand a chance in future elections. Video at http://www.democracynow.org/2012/8/29/chaos_on_the_convention_floor_as

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I first heard that God had gone missing from the Democratic Party platform from a Facebook friend who rejoiced in a godless platform as a triumph for the First Amendment and the separation of church and state.

I was surprised, however, because since the loss of John Kerry to George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential race, Democrats have gotten religion.

President Obama used the word God five times in his inaugural address. And according my search of the database of The American Presidency Project at the University of California at Santa Barbara, he has used it thousands of times more during his presidency.

In remarks at annual National Prayer Breakfasts, Obama called us “children of God” in 2009, spoke of “God’s grace” in 2010, quoted from the Book of Job on “God’s voice” in 2011 and invoked “God’s command to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself’” in 2012.

The president also invoked the almighty in more prosaic settings, including fundraisers and television interviews and remarks to Super Bowl champions.

This April he used a weekly radio address to talk about Passover and Easter—“the story of the Exodus” and “”the all-important gift of grace through the resurrection of his son.”

And in dozens of speeches over the last two years Obama has spoken of our “God-given potential.”

That is the formulation that found its way back into this year’s Democratic Party platform, after "God" had gone missing in a prior draft.

None of this should really matter, of course. There isn’t any straight line from an affirmation of our “God-given potential” to any particular federal law. But it does matter because we continue as a nation to wage a culture war that goes back to the late 1970s.

That was when Republicans decided to start hammering away at their Democratic opponents on so-called “values” questions and in the process turned U.S. politics into a decades-long referendum on the libertinism of the 1960s.

Foolishly, the Democrats responded as my Facebook friend did, by invoking Thomas Jefferson and the First Amendment and the strict separation of church and state. But being the anti-God party in a nation in which 95% or so believe in God proved to be a losing strategy. So the Democrats reversed course in 2004.

For better or for worse, we now have two religious parties in the United States. The Constitution may be godless, but both parties are hell-bent on presenting themselves as godly.

Is this a good thing? If you believe, as George Washington wrote in his Farewell Address, that “religion and morality” are “these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens," then perhaps it is.

But do we really want “God” to serve as a “prop” of our politics? Apparently, the answer of both parties to that question is yes.

The decision of Democratic Party delegates to reinsert God into their party's platform was clearly motivated by political calculations rather than theological acumen. But are the decisions of the Republican Party any different?

Are the repeated references to "providence" and "God" in its platform proof that its policies are more godly?

In its discussion of the Second Amendment, the GOP platform informs us that our citizens’ “God-given right of self-defense” extends not only to gun ownership but also “the right to obtain and store ammunition without registration.” Really? Is bearing a semi-automatic weapon really the answer to "What would Jesus do?"

Is the fact that the GOP platform refers to “God” twelve times rather than one supposed to prove that Republicans are 12 times more godly?

As a matter of tradition, Americans have always mixed church and state, but they have almost always tried to do so in ways that were respectful of adherents of minority religions and of citizens without any religion at all. So what our two religious parties are doing today runs in the American grain.

Still, I can't help but feel that the now-obligatory references to God in virtually every presidential speech and every party proclamation are more about pridefully asserting one's godliness than humbly asserting one's faith.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus told his followers not to pray, as the hypocrites do, on the street corners, so they might be seen and admired, but to pray instead in their closets, in secret, with the doors shut.

Today I'd like a little more of that sort of religion, please, and a little less of the street corner hucksterism of the Democrats and Republicans alike.

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A recent media firestorm over referencing God in the 2012 Democratic Platform appears to be a bit of a tempest in a tea pot, ignoring critical context in a fashion that raises serious questions about the role of faith in public life. The controversy was kicked off by the Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody, who noticed that the word “God” never appeared in the platform text despite the platform’s page-long discussion of the value of faith and religious institutions. The point was picked up by several Republican-leaning outlets, and then migrated into the mainstream media.

The Romney campaign has now jumped on this issue, sending Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan out to bash supposed Democratic hostility to faith:

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It’s not in keeping with our founding documents, our founding vision. I’d guess you’d have to ask the Obama administration why they purged all this language from their platform. There sure is a lot of mention of government. I guess I would just put the onus and the burden on them to explain why they did all this, these purges of God.

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Setting aside Ryan’s misleading implications about the Founders and Foundational documents, the notion that the platform “purged all this language” about religion isn’t accurate. The platform’s “Faith” section makes this plain:

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Faith has always been a central part of the American story, and it has been a driving force of progress and justice throughout our history. We know that our nation, our communities, and our lives are made vastly stronger and richer by faith and the countless acts of justice and mercy it inspires. Faithbased organizations will always be critical allies in meeting the challenges that face our nation and our world – from domestic and global poverty, to climate change and human trafficking. People of faith and religious organizations do amazing work in communities across this country and the world, and we believe in lifting up and valuing that good work, and finding ways to support it where possible. We believe in constitutionally sound, evidence-based partnerships with faith-based and other non-profit organizations to serve those in need and advance our shared interests. There is no conflict between supporting faith-based institutions and respecting our Constitution, and a full commitment to both principles is essential for the continued flourishing of both faith and country.

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Moreover, the first day of the Convention proper began and ended with a prayer. Veteran Nate Davis gave a speech that began “I’m not here tonight as a Democrat or a Republican, but as a man of Christian faith,” and a number of major speakers (including highlight Julián Castro, Lily Ledbetter, and Deval Patrick) referenced God in their speeches. It’s simply obvious there’s no hostility to God at the DNC. http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/09/05/796891/gop-suggests-democ
rats-are-hostile-to-god-ignore-lengthy-passage-on-faith-in-platform/

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But it was the Democratic leadership at the Democratic Convention that rammed through mention of God (and Jeruselem (sic) as capital of Israel) in their platform, although many (possibly a majority) of delegates didn't vote for it.

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Ironic that Rappy, the so-called "atheist", has a problem with a party leaving a magical sky buddy out of the conversation.

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It is high time the 'god' word was left out of political speeches entirely. Where was god' on 9/11, where was god in the financial meltdown? For that matter where was 'god' at Pearl Harbour and when Katrina hit New Orleans? The idea that 'god' takes an interest in the affairs of individual nations is fatuous and childish

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Niki, it can't be both. In the first paragraph, you claim the RNC did PRECISELY THE SAME THING, and then you go on to admit that the RNC didn't even CALL for a vocal vote, at all!

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The GOP ran a better convention, put out quality, diverse, positive speakers, and that's about all I could ask for. They didn't bash Obama, nearly as much as they could have, and instead chose to focus on the future.

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Fox News has fixated on the fact that the Democratic platform for 2012 does not mention the word "God," and used a misleading graphic that points out that the Republican platform for 2012 references "God" more often than the Democratic platform has in any of the last four election years. The graphic ignores that in 2000 and 2004, the Democratic platform contained the word "God" more times than the Republican platform in those years; moreover, the 2012 Democratic platform has a section on faith.

Fox has run several segments today highlighting how the word "God" does not appear in the 2012 Democratic platform. In one such segment, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) confronted host Bret Baier over the issue, saying that the network is "harping on a trifle" and presenting the Democrats as "godless people."

But Fox's data are incomplete: the network did not provide information on the number of times the GOP platform mentioned God in 2000, 2004, or 2008. Here's what an honest chart would look like:



Well look at that. The Democratic platform referenced God more often that the Republican platform in 2000 and 2004. And the 2008 GOP platform only mentioned God twice. http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/09/04/dishonest-fox-graphic-god-edit
ion/189742

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